Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Where will your quilt take you?
This year the Panguitch quilt walk will take place June 11-14 in Panguitch Utah.
The festival is a celebration of a profound event that took place in the year 1863.
In 1863 the first group of pioneers came to Panguitch from Parowan. They traveled over part of the Spanish trail. The route led them over the rugged Bear Valley.
The high elevation mountain country had a short growing season and although crops were planted they did not mature to sufficient useable food. The impending winter of 1864-1865 was exteremly cold with deep snow. With inadequate provisions to survive the winter nessity required sending out groups of men to procure provisions to keep the colony from starving. The closest possibilities were either one hundred and fifteen miles to Gunnison in the north or 40 miles to the west over the Bear Valley trail.
Going as far as possible with wagons and oxen they had to abandon them and proceed on foot. Upon becoming boged down in deep snow and desperate to find a way to make it over the mountain pass they knelt and prayed for guidance. Upon doing so they took their quilts and layed them on the snow and moving one to to the other were able to make headway and eventually made it to Parowan and procured the needed food to take back to the starving famlies in the new colony.
Every year their is a celebration of the event with a superb quilting event.
The video link is a great production of the story and well worth watching. The links below are to the quilt walk org.
The photos are courtesy of Stephanie Frazier
http://www.daydreamerart.net/http://www.quiltwalk.org/http://www.quiltwalk.org/the-panguitch-quilt-walk-story.html
You Tube Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1kYghOhSqshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3reqPoYKfQ